It was by his grandfather's side that 4-year-old Lonnie G. Bunch III first saw the pictures. The photographs of several children, perhaps from the 1800s, were in a book his grandfather picked to read with him before din ner. The faces staring back at him had no names, nothing to identify them. Young Lonnie was mesmerized. He wanted to know more about the kids, where they came from, how they lived, if they were happy.

This was his first brush with history, the impetus that put him on a path of discovery and ultimately in an arena that would become his life's work.

Bunch is one of the nation's leading figures in the cultural-historical community. It's a distinc tion that has brought him a long way from Newark, where he was born, and Belleville, where he was raised, to be the founding director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

In his nearly 30 years as a public historian, author, educator and cu rator of museums, Bunch has brought history to people. His efforts to make it relevant were recognized last night by the New Jersey Historical Society at its annual gala fund-raiser in West Orange.

Honors are not uncommon for a man of his stature, but this one is different.

"This is special," he said. "This one is from home. I'm unbelievably humbled. I'm honored in ways I can't describe."

Bunch, 55, said he has always been fascinated with helping people remember history, an interest that started from the pictures and a compelling thought from his late grandfather, Lonnie Sr.

"You can live your whole life, die and be anonymous," said Bunch, recalling his grandfather's words.

This became Bunch's historical compass as he learned about the world. But it also caused Bunch to look at himself and discover his own African-American heritage that too often is forgotten or downplayed in the framework of American history.

Bunch wants the national museum to be a place for people to remember as he creates an institution that tells the story of the African-American experience in a meaningful way for all Americans.

"For Lonnie to have the national stature and adoration of the profession that he enjoys means at least symbolically that we as Americans are ready to deal with the dif ficult and rich experience of African-American people on American soil," said Clement Price, a history professor at Rutgers-Newark.

There's no doubt the museum will chronicle the impact of obvious giants such as Frederick Douglass and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Bunch, however, wants the pub lic to also know about sharecrop pers like his grandparents and the shoeshine man who told him why he wouldn't take his money for the shine he received at the airport in Austin, Texas.

"If you do your job right, my grandchildren will understand the life I lived," Bunch recalls him say ing.

Those moments remind Bunch of the magnitude of a task that will also have a contemporary resonance museums often forget in re counting the history of a people.

"For me, it was always about how do I use history to make America better," Bunch said. "It's an ambitious goal, but a goal worthy of the richness of the African-American experience."

After decades to get the museum off the ground, federal legislation was finally enacted in 2003. Bunch became the director two years later, and even though it's slated to open in 2015 across the street from the Washington Monument, the museum exists now with a traveling exhibit: "Let your model be resistance."

Bunch has been well-prepared over the years to take on this chal lenge. He was educator and historian for the Smithsonian Institute, a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts. He traveled west to be the founding curator of the California African-American Museum in Los Angeles, then re turned to Washington, D.C., to be the associate director for Curatorial Affairs at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. He left to be president of the Chicago Historical Society, but was tapped five years later to lead the national museum -- the 19th institution for the Smithsonian.

His pedigree is extensive, but Bunch keeps it in perspective, remembering that his father told him to never believe his own clippings, that he should work hard regardless of praise or dissension.

"In some ways having the opportunity to craft this kind of museum for all of the world is what I worked my whole career to do," he said. "I know this museum is something for my ancestors."